Gerry van der Wende: According to Your Faith

According to Your Faith

January 23, 2011

Matt 9:27-31

Introduction

Jesus was in Capernaum, where he lived
He appears to have had a home in this town
Peter had a house here too, this was his home town
Andrew, James and John also lived there
Capernaum at that time was not large
Its population in Jesus day is estimated between 600-1200
Jesus was at home there, he probably knew everyone in town, more or less
This day, Jesus had just visited the home of Jairus, the ruler of the synagogue
His daughter had died, and he asked Jesus to raise her to life. Jesus went to his home, and the young girl was raided from the dead
On his way back to his home, two blind men followed Jesus
As he gets indoors, they come in too, and have a request to make

Jesus is Messiah

These two blind men repeatedly called Jesus the son of David
This was a term used for the Messiah
One of the prophecies of the Messiah was that he would make the blind see
Isa 35:5
These two blind men believed first of all that Jesus was the Messiah, and secondly, that the Messiah would heal the eyes of the blind
So they based their faith on a scriptural promise
We too need to find God's promises for our situation
There are verses which give a general answer to us
There are also verses which are specific, seemingly just for us and our situation
It may be no verse seems to cover our situation.
Ask the Lord for a word
He will respond, he loves it when we communicate with him
That word may be in different forms, but it may often be in the Bible

Jesus is God

Jesus asks them if they believe that he is able to do this
This question implies, do they believe that he is divine, and having the power to heal
So they identified him as one whom the Bible promises would heal the blind, and they also believe he has the power to perform the miracle
How does this relate to us?
We need to be in a relationship with Jesus, knowing and believing he is real
We need to be seeing his fingerprints in our life, seeing areas where he has changed situations or healed relationships, without our doing

According to your faith be it unto you

Because they had recognized him as the Messiah, the one who would bring restoration to people's lives, and healing to the blind, Jesus wanted to help them
Because they had pursued him and persisted, he saw their deep desire for healing, and he had compassion opn them
Because they believed he was divine and had the power to actually heal them, Jesus desired to grant their request
These three things added up to faith
They had faith that Jesus would heal them
One final quality was apparent
In calling out, have mercy on us they showed they needed mercy and grace
They could not take healing for granted

Conclusion

If we find a word in scripture, or in our relationship with God, that applies to our situation, we can expect that God will fulfill our request
If we are close to God and he is real to us, and we know beyond doubt that he has the power to answer our prayer, we can expect a response
If we pursue healing and persist in our prayers, even if the answer does not come immediately, it will come
If we recognize our need for grace, God will see our humble heart and he will be delighted to give us our heart's desire

Gerry van der Wende